One Year Later

Just finished this mini table topper (10.5 inches by
15.5 inches) that I started one year ago.  It came as a
kit from one of our local quilt shops.  Ran across it
the other day while looking for something else and
realized that all I had to do was hand-stitch the acorn
section (it is all wool), baste the top and quilt it.

Don't really know why it never got finished, but
it has only taken me a couple of evenings to quilt
it and this afternoon I sewed the binding on.  The
pattern is from Buttermilk Basin.

This will be fun to add to my fall decorations.

Feeling A Little Bored

Today I've been feeling a little bored with my projects.
The center nine-patch blocks for my Halloween quilt are
all sewn together and the stitcheries I am working on
are coming along nicely.

There is some housework that needs to be done, but I'm
dragging my feet, so decided to check out some blogs.
Came across Trish blog and saw this simple little
tutorial she had done and thought to myself "I have all
these 5-inch squares in a shoe box that I cut from old
fabrics and I could make up a few of these.  Don't
know yet what I will do with them.  Could add more
sashings around them to increase their size as these are
4 1/2 inches unfinished or just sew them into the 12 1/2
inch blocks.  They really worked up fast and it was
a very nice change of pace from what I've been doing.

Guess I'll just work on a few at a time when I'm bored
and then decide what to do with them.  Just don't want
them taking up more space.  They need to find a
good home!

Sadly, the colors and prints are not popular now.
Maybe they can be made in charity quilts.  Wish I
knew of a place that just took tops and finished
them as I'm not sure I want to invest in batting and
backing at this point.

Maybe down the road I'll receive some inspiration!
 

Hiking Up Waterfall Canyon

WARNING:  There are lots of pictures in this post.
Wish I knew how to make a collage so I didn't
have to do the pictures individually.  Anyone
know of a free site I can combine them and then
post?

Had such a fun day hiking with my daughter and
grandsons!

Boys and rocks just go together!

Heading out for the two mile hike--each way

Taking a break along the creek

Ian had to capture this little lizard along the way
We saw a couple of them and they were cute
and fun to watch!

Cooling down in the creek

My daughter and grandsons!

Ian was able to capture a couple of butterflies

Hey, Grandma, check me out!

Looking down the trail

Taking a break from climbing over all the boulders

Two miles later and we are at the waterfall

This feels soooooo good!

We made it!

Ian and Ty cooling their feet in a little pool below the waterfall

Me and my daughter

Fascinating rock formations

Beautiful and rugged mountains surrounding the waterfall

Happy Anniversary!

Kerri and Kohler hiking up the mountain side

Don't Look, Grandma!
Thankfully, Ian spotted this snake by the creek
and alerted me so I was able to scoot down the
path before it slithered across the dirt trail and
up the mountain side.

Auditioning

All the center nine-patch blocks are finally completed...just
need to square them up.  This morning I cut the black fabric
border strips, squares and setting triangles.  The dark fabric
is a subdued black with small rusty orange flowers.  I did
not want an intense or bright black to set off the nine-patch
blocks.  When I first started stitching the houses a few years
back, I purchased a black and cream polka dot piece, but
looking at it again, decided it was too intense and too bright
for what I wanted.

It is a little difficult to see the rusty orange flowers and I
now wonder if something else might have been better---but
it is too late.  I chose to do the nine-patch blocks with
rusty orange instead of different colors as the pattern called
for as I was hoping they would not be too over-powering
and take away from the stitched designs. 

Here are my block all laid out on the floor.  They will be
there for a couple of days while I check them out as I
walk past trying to decide if I like the way the blocks are
laid out before I sew them together.

I welcome any comments or changes you may have.

Where did the 4th go?

I can't believe the 4th of July has come and gone already.
The day seemed to "race" by beginning with the 5K
walk/run race with my daughter and grandsons.

I was very proud of the boys.  Ian and Kohler
walked the entire distance, and Ty did a little
walking here and there.  We have been training
with the boys three days a week so they could
do this.  Am so happy they wanted "Grandma"
to do it with them.  This was my first 5K.
We really had fun and plan to make it a
tradition.

After the race, it was time for the old fashioned
breakfast.  My SIL has helped with this for
several years.  He is in the middle.  These guys
really do a great job.

Then it's over to our favorite spot to wait for the
parade to begin.  People here begin saving their
spots just after midnight on July 3.

Waiting for the parade to start with bags in hand
to collect candy, prizes, etc., that are thrown out
as the parade passes by.

Afternoon fun at the carnival:
Love the face painting!

Not sure about this:

And in the evening, we enjoyed being with family
and friends "hanging out" and watching the
fireworks from the comfort of my daughter's back
yard.

Great 4th of July.  Love the patriotic feeling that
I find here in my little hometown!

Giving It Another Try

Back in January I posted about trying to make the
Disappearing Pinwheel block and how frustrating it
was due to the stretching of the fabric.

While reading Raewyn's blog, June 19, she posted
about this particular block and even had a link for
a tutorial, http://www.heyeshome.net.  So, I decided one
day when I had nothing better to do, I would give it one
more shot.  Today was that day as  I really didn't feel
like working on my nine-patch blocks,   The tutorial
was great and I played around with several different
sizes, which are given in the tutorial.

Much happier with the results. However, with more
practice and time, I believe I can make the block come
out a little more accurate.  This is a 6-inch block.

Decided to add borders to the block and hang it on
my little stand.  Made this out of the fabric scraps
that was left from my quilt, "Twinkle, Twinkle" that
I made in 2011.

A Little Sewing Today

Yesterday my friend, JoAnn, came down and we worked
on our Hocuspocusville (Halloween) quilt center blocks.  We
spent time cutting the fabric into two inch squares for the
16 nine patch blocks.

Today I was able to chain-piece all the squares and then
quickly sew them into the nine-patch blocks.

We have chosen to do the nine-patch blocks all in the same
rusty orange prints instead of different colors.  The cream
print we've used is what we had left from the houses
we stitched.  Using various colors seemed to detract from
the houses we have stitched and I didn't want my focus to
be on the blocks.

Now, I just need to cut and sew the quarter square
triangles to the blocks, cut the black fabric blocks that will
separate these and then I can begin to assemble the
quilt.  May not get to this part until next week with
work and the 4th of July.  But, at least I'm making
progress.

We also took time to do a little shopping at our new,
and quickly becoming a favorite of ours, quilt shop.
I also needed to pick up some little sewing scissors
for these scissor keeps I made for her granddaughters
who are staying with her.